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EU referendum: Vote was not humiliation - Michael Gove EU referendum: Government plays down vote rebellion
(40 minutes later)
 
Michael Gove has told the BBC the vote on the EU referendum was "not a humiliation" for the Conservatives.Michael Gove has told the BBC the vote on the EU referendum was "not a humiliation" for the Conservatives.
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said more than half of Tory backbenchers are believed to have defied the whips by backing the motion or abstaining. In total, 81 Tory MPs, including two tellers, defied the whips, two actively abstained by voting both ways and a further 12 are known not to have voted.
The education secretary said that the government and MPs were "united" behind a goal to get back powers from Europe.The education secretary said that the government and MPs were "united" behind a goal to get back powers from Europe.
He denied there were "convulsions" in the party and said disagreements had been conducted with "cordiality".He denied there were "convulsions" in the party and said disagreements had been conducted with "cordiality".
The backbench motion was defeated by 483 votes to 111, after all Tory, Lib Dem and Labour MPs had been instructed to oppose it. The backbench motion - prompted after a petition was signed by more than 100,000 people - was defeated by 483 votes to 111, after all Tory, Lib Dem and Labour MPs had been instructed to oppose it.
In total 81 Tories are known to have defied the whips, including the two Conservative tellers, the people who count votes in the Commons. 'Significant number'
Nick Robinson said a further 15 Conservative MPs had abstained from the vote - meaning that David Cameron had failed to convince more than half of his backbenchers to oppose the idea of a referendum on UK membership of the EU. It called for a referendum on whether the UK should stay in the EU, leave it or renegotiate its membership.
But Mr Gove told BBC Radio 4's Today programme while there were a "significant number" of rebels - the differences between them and the Conservative frontbench could be "exaggerated". Mr Cameron told MPs that launching legislation for a referendum could be disastrous at the current "moment of economic crisis".
As well as the 81 who supported the referendum motion, two MPs - Mike Wetherley and Ian Stewart - actively abstained by voting in both the yes and no lobbies. A further 12 MPs did not vote - including Foreign Secretary William Hague who left the debate early to travel to Australia.
It was the biggest rebellion against a Conservative prime minister over Europe - the previous largest was in 1993, when 41 MPs defied John Major on the Maastricht Treaty.
But Mr Gove told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that while there were a "significant number" of rebels - the differences between them and the Conservative frontbench were not significant and could be "exaggerated".
"It was a very precisely worded motion which allowed a number of people like myself, who are passionate Eurosceptics, to say: Look, I disagree with the tactics but we agree on the ultimate goal."It was a very precisely worded motion which allowed a number of people like myself, who are passionate Eurosceptics, to say: Look, I disagree with the tactics but we agree on the ultimate goal.
"If you have a disagreement about tactics ... and if you have that disagreement conducted with cordiality and good manners on all sides then I don't think it leads to the sorts of convulsions that many people want it to." "If you have a disagreement about tactics... and if you have that disagreement conducted with cordiality and good manners on all sides then I don't think it leads to the sorts of convulsions that many people want it to."
He said the prime minister "wants to refashion our relationship with the European Union" and was "committed" to taking back powers to boost economic growth in the UK.
"It's not a humiliation. What we have is a coalition and because we have a coalition, all parties need to compromise in the national interest."
Three-line whip
Mr Gove said the Liberal Democrats agreed that there had to be a look at the "balance of competencies" between Britain and the EU - and he said some aspects of employment law should be repatriated.
Pressed on when powers might be brought back to the UK, he said it would be wrong to explain "tactics" in advance of negotiations but added: "I'd like to see that change in this Parliament."
Conservative backbenchers voiced their dismay at the three-line whip in Monday's vote - the strongest order a party can give - which meant any Conservative MP who voted against the government would be expected to resign from government jobs.
Two Parliamentary private secretaries, Stewart Jackson and Adam Holloway, rebelled. Mr Holloway resigned while Mr Jackson was sacked from the unpaid government post.
One Liberal Democrat MP, Adrian Sanders, defied his party's leadership and voted for a referendum.
Labour leader Ed Miliband also saw 19 Labour MPs rebel, including Frank Field, Kate Hoey, Jon Cruddas and Graham Stringer.
Caroline Lucas, the only Green MP in the Commons, also voted for the motion, as did all eight DUP MPs and independent Lady Sylvia Hermon.